Whenever a new historical drama breaks we tend to question its historical authenticity, and that’s a good thing. However even with a critical eye unfortunately we invariably end up internalising something of the narrative and this can have lasting consequences for our understanding of history. Anyone in historical martial arts can relate to this, whether…
Read More... from Vikings: An interview with archaeologist Stephen Fox
Recently a group of Academie Duello members participated in a rapier tournament at Ursulmas, an event hosted by the Society for Creative Anachronism in the state of Washington. The tournament was based around the concept of martial challenges that the organizer called “labours”. These challenges pitted individuals up against an opponent who outmatched them in…
Horsemanship Level 4: Feeding (pt II) Last week we looked at the nine rules of good feeding as part of your Feeding topic for Level 4. This week we'll cover: Common grains, concentrates & processing methods. Own routine & ration. In an ideal situation a horse is able to get all the food it needs…
This week, I’m jotting down some rumination on the connection between writing and martial arts, so I don’t have a thesis or a lesson to teach, but the reader can follow my musing toward their own meditation on the topic. I’m partially inspired by Major Wes who sent me a copy of the book on…
"Every society has needed licensed channels for the overflow of destructive impulses. Duelling reduced such feuds to symbolic proportions, confined them to individuals, and required only a limited number of victims". [1] Duelling bad! Very, very bad! In The Duel in European History, Marxist social-historian Kiernan offers us a wide variety of duelling stories and…
Read More... from Book Review: The Duel in European History by Kiernan
This week I have been leading an instructor training intensive at Academie Duello. 50 hours of instruction in Italian swordplay technique, theory, and teaching methodology. So far it is living up to its name — intense — for both the students and the teachers. That's not a statement of distress, simply one of fact. The…
Horsemanship Level 4: Feeding The Feeding section of the Level Four checklist is quite large: 4. Feeding rules & how implemented. Common grains, concentrates & processing methods. Own routine & ration. This week in the blog we'll take a look at the rules of feeding, and next week we will examine types of grain. In…
You might not associate the mouth with fighting, except maybe to “slug them in the kisser”. But there are plenty of actions that a desperate person might do in combat using their oral cavity. Here are a few suggestions for your maw: Spitting is an Option Spitting can be a taunt or a direct insult.…
Read More... from Things To Do With Your Mouth for Valentine’s Day
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called Three Things You Should be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students, where I encouraged teachers to reinforce for their students that practice matters more than talent. I received a lot of great feedback and got into some great discussions. The piece was even translated into…
Horsemanship Level 4: Full Practical Grooming For Level 3 you had to identify and show knowledge of all the items in a complete grooming kit. For Level 4 you will need to put them to use: 4. Full practical grooming, complete kit. The good news is we do not watch you groom. Instead you are expected…
A recently translated book shows a combination of martial arts taught for Japanese police officers in 1888. It was translated by Eric Shahan, who specializes in translating 19th- and 20th-century Japanese martial arts texts. Read the article on LiveScience. Samurai Secrets: 1888 Martial Arts Manual for Cops Revealed I have to mention the caveat that…
HEMA is not a "dead" art. Notwithstanding that most of it is based on fight books from medieval/renaissance times, our community is seeing a modern rebirth of the art with new schools being established, old techniques being rediscovered or reinterpreted (or even created), a revived interest in lost swords and their related history, and, maybe most…
Read More... from Rediscovered Sword Press: News for January 2016
Over the month of January Academie Duello and I hosted a training challenge that set a goal of 30 minutes of swordplay training per day for 30 days. Whether this was over and above your usual training quota or simply reporting on it was up to each participant. Specific additional training goals could also be set…
Read More... from The Conclusion of the 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge